This Abandoned Dog Found a Reason to Trust People Again

For two years the people who work at an office complex in Kennesaw, Georgia, did everything they could for the stray dog they found living in the small forest behind the building. They gave her food and toys, and even a name: Shelby.

Despite their best efforts, they couldn’t coax Shelby—who they speculate had been left behind when her owners moved out of a nearby apartment complex—out of the woods. Sometimes they spotted her on the edge of the woods gazing at the complex as if looking to see if her family had finally returned.

Last year, one of the workers asked Flatt if he could trap her, and maybe help find her a home. Unfortunately Flatt’s hands were tied—his rescue was already at capacity.

But last week the workers called Flatt again. Shelby’s situation had become dire. There were plans to clear the forest to make room for new development. Flatt sprung into action immediately and set a trap.

"I came back in the pouring rain," Flatt recalls. "I got out of my van and I heard whining and howling. There she was in the trap."

Because Shelby had spent so long avoiding humans, Flatt worried she would have trouble adjusting to domesticated life. He was shocked, he said, that it took her just three days to become a family dog again.

"On the first day, she was nervous, but I could pet her," Flatt says. "By the third day, she was jumping up on down." Now, she’s showering him with slobbery kisses and on the road getting the home she’s been longing for.